Talks

book Alex to talk at your event

Alex Perry is a veteran foreign correspondent who has worked in Africa, Asia and the Middle East for 15 years, covering politics, economics and the occasional war. His third book, The Rift: the Future of Africa, will be published globally in late 2014.

For 12 years, from postings in Hong Kong, New Delhi and Cape Town, Alex was bureau chief for TIME magazine, for whom he wrote more than 25 cover stories and won numerous awards. He is a frequent guest on television and radio, has appeared in several documentaries and appears often at literary festivals and other public discussions around the world. He is also a Media Leader at the Africa chapter of the World Economic Forum and an advisor on development to the United Nations.

Alex is the author of three books. Falling Off the Edge: Globalization, World Peace and Other Lies (2008) explored the link between globalization, inequality and developing world social unrest. Lifeblood: How to Change the World One Dead Mosquito at a Time (2011) investigated how business and aid combined in the extraordinary success of the global campaign to wipe out malaria. The Rift, Alex’s most ambitious book to date, draws on seven years living and reporting on the continent to present the definitive account of the new Africa, one that overturns some cherished misperceptions in the West, both among the aid world but also inside the business community. Africa’s rising economic clout, its accompanying reclamation of its political sovereignty, and Africa’s future of simultaneous promise and turmoil, Alex argues, is a reality we all need to get to know: Africans are changing not just their own lives but those of us all.

Alex’s particular expertise lies in knitting together the diverse issues of Africa and the developing world into a coherent, comprehensive picture. He is at home talking about his encounters with pirates or Islamists as he is relaying insights from conversations with African’s new generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders to figures as diverse as the Dalai Lama, Melinda Gates or Rwandan President Paul Kagame. On the ground when China took off, then India, then Africa, Alex has unparalleled first-hand insights into the emerging world, where these regions share similarities and where they differ.

To find out more about booking Alex to talk at your event,
contact Lucinda Swan at the London Speakers Bureau on (+44) 207 572 1229 or lucinda@londonspeakerbureau.com, or